Well it’s the day you’ve all been waiting for.  The 3rd Annual Figgie Awards are about to be announced!  Can you feel the excitement?  Are you wondering why there is no podcast to accompany the announcement?  Well, we’re sorry to say that we’re a bit crazed over here at Figment central of late and we simply couldn’t pull one together.  So our apologies, but enough about that, let’s announce the winners!!!

The voting for this year’s awards was quite competitive and several awards were decided by just a few votes, so since we couldn’t build suspense with a podcast we thought we’d allow you to unveil the winners for yourself!  So click on each award to find out who won.

Best Band Name

Best Tagline

Best Tour/Festival 2011

Best Developed Band 2011

Best Single 2011

Album Cover of the Year 2011

Album of the Year 2011

So congratulations to all of the nominees, and of course all the winners!  We’ll be putting one of these shiny new Figgie icons on your band pages and depositing 250 pieces of lucre in your accounts very soon!

Thanks to everyone who voted.  Until next year…

Today is the final day to get your votes in for the 2011 Figgie Awards.  If you haven’t filled out your official ballot, check your email now and get your votes in!  We’ll even give you 50 pieces of lucre if you fill out your official ballot and cast your votes.  There are a lot of great bands and albums nominated this year, so don’t let them down.

If you’d like to get your friends and family involved please direct them to the ballot we have open to the general public.

The voting deadline is midnight tonight ET, so don’t delay!  We’ll be announcing all of the winners on Friday here on the blog, so be on the lookout for that.

Good luck to all of our nominees, and if you haven’t cast your ballot – WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?  VOTE!!!!!

It’s that time of year again!  The time when you get to award those fake bands on Figment you think deserve to be recognized for their achievements in 2010.

The Figment Awards, or “Figgie’s” as we like to call them, are awards that are handed out once a year to those Figment bands and albums that garner the most votes from the Figment community.  They recognize excellence in fake band creation and design, and since they are voted on by the community represent those bands that have truly resonated with their peers on Figment.

This year we’re very excited to announce a new Figgie for Best Tour/Festival.  This Figgie Award was suggested by javdoc and we thought it was such a good idea we have included it in the 2011 Figgies ballot.

Our crack Figment editorial team have selected the fake bands, albums, singles, tag lines and tours of 2010 we thought deserved to be nominees, but we’ve also given you the opportunity to write-in a nominee.

While clearly these awards are all in good fun, we ask that you try to be as fair and impartial as possible when casting your votes. Try to vote for the band or album that you think best deserves the award.  If you honestly think your band or album deserves your vote that’s fine, but keep in mind that everyone else might not feel the same.

Also keep in mind that any Figgie Awards for Album or Single only apply to those releases created in 2010, so if you write-in an album or single that wasn’t they will be disqualified.  As for the brand new tour Figgie, we will only recognize those tours that actually took place in 2010.  If you created a tour in 2010 that doesn’t begin until 2011 then it will not be considered for this award this year.

As we did last year, you’ll be asked to cast a vote on the following award categories:

Best Developed Band – this award recognizes the fake band that was the most complete in every facet of the game – band back story (description), artwork, album cover design, song titles, band news, marketing/promotion, collaborations with other players bands, and fan base development.  In short, we’re looking for you to cast a vote for the fake band that is 2010′s best and most complete fake band.  Last year’s winner was Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls.

Album Cover of the Year – this award recognizes the best album cover design of the year.  We’re looking for you to vote for the cover that not only has the best design and visual impact, but also best communicates the album’s genre and content.  Chronicles by Suicide By Papercut was last year’s winner.

Best Tagline – this award recognizes the fake band with the best tagline.  Promotion is important in the music business, and with so many bands trying to capture people’s attention you have to find a way to cut through the clutter to get a fan’s attention.  We’re looking for you to cast a vote for the band that not only best summed up their band’s aesthetic in one line, but also created a memorable slogan that grabs your attention.  Last year’s winner Zandergiff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls is a perfect example.

Best Band Name – this award recognizes the Figment fake band with the best name.  A name that captures not only your attention, but also a bit of the band’s aesthetic, while also being clever and original.   To give you an idea of what we’re talking about - here’s last year’s winner!

Best Single – this award recognizes the best song title!  We know a lot of you are releasing singles these days, but we’re not looking for you to cast your vote on album covers, but instead simply on how great of a song title it is and whether or not it made you want to buy the album .  Yeah, we’ve included quite a few funny ones in the nominees we put forward, but we’re also looking for a song title that resonated with you, so if you have a favorite that appeared on a 2010 album that isn’t funny please write it in – and remember to include the group that created it!  Last year’s winner was the single “Double Bacon Hateburger” by Fistful of Firearms.

Best Tour/Festival – This is the first year for this award, so we ask that you give it some real thought before casting your vote.  Clearly we’re looking for the best tour or festival, but there are a lot of factors that go into what makes a fake tour or festival seem real.  Obviously the name of the tour is the first thing that grabs your attention, but we’re looking for more than that.  We want you to consider the concept behind the tour or festival.  How original of an idea was it?  Do the bands involved fit with the overall concept, and how involved were they in the tour or festival?  How was the artwork for the tour?  Did the creator publish news, use the shout box or other online media (i.e. Twitter) to promote the tour before, during and after?  How well did they merchandise the tour?  All of these things should be factored in when you cast your vote for this Figgie.  Again, if you write in a nominee please keep in mind that the tour/festival you nominate had to have taken place in 2010, and not just created in 2010.

Album of the Year – this award recognizes the album that is the best of the best.  We’re looking for you to take into account the cover design, the album description and the song titles when casting your vote.  In short, which album do you think was the best of 2010.  “Seizure Salad” by Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls took last year’s prize!

So those are the awards we’ll be asking you to vote on this year.  We hope you’ll take a moment to check out all of the bands nominated before filling out your ballot.  The last day to submit your ballot is March 14, 2011, so make sure you get your votes in before the end of the day on March 14th.  The winners will be announced here on the Figment News blog on Friday, March 18, 2011 and each of the winners will receive an icon for their winning band/album page as well as 250 pieces of lucre.

Check your email because we’re sending out the invite that will link you to the ballot later today.  We’re looking forward to seeing who you vote for!

Ballots go out soon…so make sure you check your email.

The 2010 Figgies did not disappoint.  We saw bands like Suicide By Papercut, Hot Flying Fragments and Fistful of Firearms each take home a Figgie, but the big winner of the evening was clearly Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls.  Zander wasn’t at the awards because he’s hard at work on his new opus, the rock opera Prime!, but he did take the time to record this acceptance/thank you speech from his Uncle Duff HQ.

Following the Figgies though, things really heated up as the after parties got underway.  The Forgotten Falling held a party at an abandoned warehouse made up to look like a steam-punk amusement park.  The band played a short set debuting songs from their new album “Albion” and then turned the stage over to a pick-up band featuring members of Stonekrank, The Nymphomaniacs and The Waiters.  Members of Fistful of Firearms joined them for the encore and they drunkenly belted out the band’s Figgie Award winning hit “Double Bacon Hate Burger”.

Across town, Fait Accompli held their own soiree and despite going home empty handed were upbeat and happy to have been nominated for so many awards.  They played tracks from their new album “Infinitum” and brought members of fellow Figgie nominees Taxine Fontaine and the Park Avenue Sluts up for an encore of that band’s “Convertible Kisses (Take the Top Down)”.

A lot of band’s couldn’t attend the awards because of tour commitments, but called this reporters cell phone to comment on their wins or lack thereof.  Barry Reese of Hot Flying Fragments called in to say, “It’s a great honor for the Fragments to receive this award.  After all those days of practicing into the wee hours of the night, this makes it all worthwhile.”   The rest of the band echoed his thoughts, but said the win is bittersweet.  Turns out founding member Jenny Moss has been lured away by her husband Richard ‘Yoko’ Moss to the sleazy underground of the Archaeological music scene, and although the rest of the Fragments wish her only the best, they are understandably angry that she’s no longer around.  Reese, the band’s electric cellist and chief spokesperson, summed it all by saying, “Oh…uh…thanks again for the award.  We’re honored.  And, as always…watch for Hot Flying Fragments!”

Riki Milligan of Eccentric Arcade checked in from Baltimore, MD where the band was playing as part of the Nothing to Prove Tour.  Said Riki, “Huge congrats to all the winners!  I have had the pleasure of collaborating with several of my fellow nominees, which has been awesome.  And now I will have the pleasure of working with Zander in Prime!  And who knows?  Maybe we’ll collaborate on other ventures down the line.  It was an incredible honor just to be nominated.  As cliche as that may sound.  Time to raise the bar and make BIG things happen for next year!”

We ended the night at the official Figment party where bands as diverse as Ernie, Mother Rage, The Damaged, Andre Darko and The Screamin’ Ohs played sets.  A clearly inebriated Phil Graspman of the band The Cosmic Stoners ended the evening by screaming “Until Next Year!” into the mic before launching into an acappella version of his band’s classic song “There’s a Party in My Pants (But I Didn’t Get An Invitation)” Security promptly removed him from the premises.

As I explained in an earlier post, The Figment Awards or “Figgies” as we like to call them recognize excellence in fake band creation and marketing.  The nominees are selected by our Figment editorial board, but the winners are selected by you and your fellow Figment players.  So thanks for taking the time to cast your votes, we appreciate it.

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Now, let’s see who won a Figgie this year!

BEST DEVELOPED BAND

Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls

BEST SINGLE

“Double Bacon Hate Burger” by Fistful of Firearms

BEST TAGLINE

Hookahs, Not Bazookas!

Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls

BEST BAND NAME

Hot Flying Fragments

ALBUM COVER OF THE YEAR

Suicide By Papercut “Chronicles”

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

“Seizure Salad” by Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls

Well, there you have it!  Congratulations to all of the Figgie Award winners.  Zandergriff Miggs and his Parliament of Owls was clearly the big winner of this year’s awards taking 3 of the six awards.  So congrats Zander and the Owls!  We’ll be crediting each of the winner’s accounts with 250 pieces of lucre and placing a special Figgie Award icon on their band’s page to recognize their achievement.

We’d also like to congratulate all of the nominated bands for their great work in 2009.  It’s never easy to go home empty handed, but your work did not go unnoticed and we have every reason to believe you’ll be back next year, maybe even with a new band!?

So until next year…

And last but certainly not least, here are the nominees for the 2010 Album of the Year Figgie (in no particular order):

The Forgotten Falling “This Is Sayonara”

The Dark Immortal “Ashes to Ashes”

Minagoroshi “I Am Death Alive”

Zeroth “Tachyon”

Suicide By Papercut “Chronicles”

Amish Militia “Barn Raising From Hell”

Smug Fungus “Toke”

Fait Accompli “Malevolence”

Stonekrank “Smokin’”

Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls “Seizure Salad”

Eccentric Arcade “Eccentric Arcade”

Crimson Eye “Tenth Exodus”

Manifold Spaceport “3″

Aah, the Best Single Figgie, a single shot of goodness.  This category is always one of the hardest, because there are so many great song titles on Figment that we have to balance the funny ones with the more serious ones.  In the end, we try to provide a mix of nominees that are simply the best.

So take a look at this year’s nominees below and then cast your votes by clicking here.

“Careful With Those Shears Delilah!” by Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls

“Never Too Warm For Wool” by Amish Militia

“Double Bacon Hate Burger” by Fistful of Firearms

“Rust and Mildew” by Eccentric Arcade

“Walking With Spirits” by Whispers to the Fallen

“Fonzy Scheme” by Van Q

“Slash, Slash, Murder Bash!” by The Dark Immortal

“Typeface Not Font MFer” by dzinr

Time is running out!  So cast your votes now!

The Best Band Name Figgie is one of our favorites.  It recognizes a band created in the past year whose name is just downright awesome in every way – funny, clever, cool, memorable and interesting.  A band name that the minute you hear it makes you a fan without even hearing a note, which in the case of Figment is even more important since…well you know…

Take a look at each band and then cast your vote for this and the other five Figgie categories by clicking here!

So here are the nominees for this year’s Best Band Figgie (in no particular order):

Larry David Foster Wallace Shawn Marion Berry

Aqua Volvo

Dementorhosen

Hot Flying Fragments

Lutefist

Taxine Fontaine and the Park Avenue Sluts

The Bacon Grabbers

Whispers to the Fallen

Wheelie Nilsson

Colonel Abstract & The Dangers

So what are you waiting for?  Vote!

Promotion is important in the real and virtual music worlds.  With so many bands trying to capture people’s attention you have to find a way to cut through the clutter to get a fan’s attention.  That’s where the tagline comes in.  It’s a way to sum up your band’s aesthetic in one line and hook a potential fan.  So when you cast your vote for the Best Tagline Figgie, make sure you pick a band whose tagline is clever, but also right on the money.

Here are the nominees for the Best Tagline Figgie 2010 (in no particular order):

Zeroth

“Because life is too short to play in 4/4″

Dementorhosen

“Bratwurst, blasphemy, and blast beats.“

dzinr

“The Mac Daddy”

Amish Militia

“It’s Pennsylvania DEUTSCH, not DUTCH, you buffoons!”

Fistful of Firearms

“Speak Metal and Carry A Big F**king Gun”

Riddled With Tipos

“Stive for Clarity”

Second Bananas

“Big on craftmanship, large on deference, HUGE on potassium”

Sintera

“Indulgent Crap, Get Some”

Solomon X. Lambert

“I am the last…I will tell the audient void…”

Worship the Glitch

“Prepare to be Boarded!”

Zandergriff Miggs & The Parliament of Owls

“Hookahs, Not Bazookas”

Time is ticking, so make sure you cast your votes!